NRM Exit Support

Steve O'Connell: What measures will the Mayor take to ensure survivors of modern slavery in London are not re-victimised after they exit Government National Referral Mechanism Support?

The Mayor: In the majority of cases, the Metropolitan Police Service are not informed when an individual leaves the NRM. However, they work closely with many statutory and non-government organisations to ensure victims of trafficking are appropriately protected while in the NRM & beyond.
The Bakhita House Project is an excellent example of collaboration that ensures victims can learn life and work skills that will help protect them from further exploitation once they’re ready to exit support.
The MPS are also keen to support and help expand the ‘Bright Futures’ programme. An initiative run by The Coop and City Hearts, it provides job placements to victims of modern slavery. Through the multi-national businesses they meet, the MPS are now encouraging companies to consider supporting the scheme and so seeking to increase the range and placements available.
Should the Metropolitan Police Service have concerns about the vulnerability of an individual after they have exited from the NRM, then the appropriate referrals to the relevant Local Authority would be made.

Information and Briefings on Police Operations (1)

Andrew Dismore: Taking into account the following story in the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/iran-linked-terrorists-caught-stockpiling-explosives-in-london), how do the Metropolitan Police Service make decisions on whether to provide public statements on police operations?

The Mayor: Where people are arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command will liaise with the Directorate of Media and Communications (DMC) to put in place a media strategy for the investigation. In the first instance, the DMC will always look to encourage a proactive approach in issuing details of such arrests to the media and the public and in the majority of cases, this is the approach taken.
However, on occasion, there will be operational reasons why officers will not want to release details of arrests on a proactive basis, in which case lines will be held by DMC on a reactive basis only. The decision to do this ultimately rests with the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) who is leading the investigation. There may be various reasons why an SIO may not wish to issue details of arrests proactively to media, but any such decision will be in line with and to support their overall investigative strategy.

Dog theft

Shaun Bailey: For each of the years July 16 to June 17, July 17 to June 18 and July 18 to June 19, many dogs have been reported stolen?

The Mayor: The MPS now publish a stolen animals dashboard that can be found here - https://www.met.police.uk/sd/stats-and-data/met/stolen-animals-dashboard/
This dashboard is updated at monthly intervals, covering the whole of the MPS, with data dating back to 2010. The data within the dashboard can be broken down by borough and animal type and is available to download directly from the site.

Police gender pay gap

Shaun Bailey: Do you expect the recruitment of part time police officers to negatively impact the police gender pay gap?

The Mayor: The Met has commissioned a number of projects aimed at increasing the diversity of the service. Whilst the introduction of part time police officers is not exclusively aimed at females, we hope that it will tackle some of the barriers that have prevented some women joining the Met.
The gender pay gap report makes it clear that police officer and police staff pay is determined by role with no reference to gender. Female employees who undertake the same role, have the same length or service, and work the same hours, receive the same pay as male employees.
The Met recognises that if successful in our aims to recruit more female and BAME police officers it will have an impact on gender and ethnicity pay gaps as individuals will join on lower pay points due to length of service in rank. Part time recruitment will potentially have a further impact as individuals will earn less than full time staff.
Importantly, the Commissioner and I recognise the importance of offering choice and a broad range of employment options. We believe that the positive impacts of developing the Met as an inclusive and diverse organisation outweigh any slight negative impact on the pay gap.

Police funding

Gareth Bacon: For each of the financial years from 2008/09 to the current year, please breakdown all met income by source e.g. gov, business rates etc

The Mayor: The source of MOPAC funding – government, business rates, council tax, and other income - can be found at the following website https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/governance-and-spending/spending-money-wisely/mayors-budget

Discussions with ministers about rent control for London

Sian Berry: Further to the commitment you made in our discussion on my question 2018/3040, on 22 November 2018, relating to details of meetings with ministers since you became Mayor where you or your officials have lobbied for rent control powers for London, could you now provide me with this information?

The Mayor: I have provided you with details of meetings that James Murray, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development, City Hall officials, and I have had with Government ministers to discuss housing issues. None have been exclusively about rent control, but we have discussed regulation of the private rented sector many times. Following publication of my blueprint that sets out the powers I want from the Government to introduce rent controls, I will be seeking a meeting with the Secretary of State to discuss its demands.

GPS tracking pilot (1)

Sian Berry: With reference to your pilot programme announced on 31 May 2019 that will tag knife crime, robbery and aggravated burglary offenders with GPS tracking devices on release from prison, what other offences is this applied to? For instance, does it apply to those with court orders imposing conditions to abstain from alcohol?

The Mayor: The pilot is testing the use of GPS tags with knife crime offenders and is open to adult offenders who are being automatically released from custody to the pilot area from a London prison. Any offence type can be included, as long as a knife or bladed object was used in the offence. Aside from knife possession offences, to date this has included robbery and violence.
This pilot only includes those released from prison, not those subject to court orders or community sentences. Alcohol abstinence tags use a different technology and are not part of this pilot.

Police grants

Gareth Bacon: For the police in the GLA budgets, for each of the financial years from 2008/09 to the current year, please provide a full breakdown grants and other income e.g. CT grant

The Mayor: The breakdown of Home Office core funding, specific grants, other income and Mayoral funding for MOPAC can be found at the following website https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/governance-and-spending/spending-money-wisely/mayors-budget

Facial recognition used on non-live images

Sian Berry: Outside of the recent trials of live facial recognition technology, what use is currently made, or has been made in the past three years, of facial recognition software by the Metropolitan Police Service in non-live situations on images captured or obtained by officers? Could you provide details of each source of images that facial recognition software has been used on, including for example, images obtained from CCTV, body-worn video cameras, police photographers at demonstrations, or helicopter images.

The Mayor: The MPS started using a Facial Recognition software in 2009. The software is used in non-live situations to compare unidentified images from criminal investigations against MPS custody images in an effort to help identify suspects of crime. The MPS do not record the source of the unidentified image, however nearly all images searched are unidentified still images taken from CCTV enquiries. A small number searched may be retrieved from mobile phones, social media, and identity documents, body worn video or violent disorders as part of a criminal investigation.
The MPS also use the facial searching tool built within the Police National Database.

Tackling knife crime alongside local community groups

Onkar Sahota: How are you working with local community groups to tackle knife crime, as part of your public health approach? What is the best way for a community group working in this area to approach your office?

The Mayor: The Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) is working in partnership with communities to tackle the underlying complex causes of violent crime through a public health approach. The community voice is integral to all our efforts to tackle serious violence.
An informal community involvement planning group has been created to steer and shape the VRU’s plans for ongoing community involvement. The group has met four times between December 2018 and May 2019. In addition, the VRU Director Lib Peck has led a series of formal and informal meetings, workshops and discussions with community partners, to inform the development of all elements of the VRU, including its delivery model and work programme. Lib has also made over 50 visits to and meetings with community groups across London.
Details around how community groups can become involved are available through the VRU website, enabling community groups to register for updates and become involved. Two community engagement officers will be in post shortly, to further develop community involvement.

Special Constables (2)

Peter Whittle: To ask the Mayor whether the Metropolitan Police has considered paying Special Constables a wage, as a means of boosting numbers?

The Mayor: Special Constables are volunteers. If they were to be paid, they would no longer be special constables but regular Police Constables (PCs).
Special Constable is one of the many volunteer opportunities available within the MPS and it is highly valued by those who willingly give their time as part of the wider policing family to help keep Londoners safe.
Special Constables perform a valuable role and they receive a range of benefits such as training and unique experiences, which help to build core career skills. They have access to free travel on London transport, access to Met staff discounts on goods and services, eligibility to join the Metfriendly Society and paid expenses. Special Constables in London are also able to claim a council tax payment.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) runs specific recruitment campaigns for Special Constables who wish to apply and transfer to full time Police Constables.

Special Constables (1)

Peter Whittle: To ask the Mayor a) how many Special Constables have left the Metropolitan Police over the last three years, b) what the current shortfall in numbers is and c) what initiatives are underway to address this shortfall.

The Mayor: In the last three years 2,252 Special Constables have left the MPS, many of which become regular Police Constables.
The MPS are actively recruiting with a new campaign, a further 232 Special Constables to reach a total of 2,054 by March 2020.
There are a number of current initiatives to grow the number of Special Constables, including:

Victims Commissioner submission to laws around taking, making and sharing intimate images without consent

Unmesh Desai: The Law Commission has been asked by the justice and culture ministries to examine whether legislation surrounding the creation and sharing of non-consensual, intimate images protects those targeted and has kept pace with technological change. Will the Victims Commissioner be providing a formal submission to this consultation?

The Mayor: The Victims’ Commissioner, Claire Waxman and I both welcome the government’s announcement to review the law around the non-consensual taking, making and sharing of sexual images and Claire will be responding to the consultation which is due to start in 2020.
It has become increasingly clear that there is a gap in the framework in how agencies respond to types of sexual offences which are image based. These offences can include so called ‘revenge porn’ such as the use of ‘deep fakes’, where an individual’s face is superimposed on to pornographic photos. These are offences that are overwhelmingly committed against women and the current legal position means that it is a challenge for authorities to address perpetrators in line with broader forms of sexual offending.

Metropolitan Police Detectives

Peter Whittle: To ask the Mayor what the current shortfall is in the number of detectives required by the Metropolitan Police and what initiatives are underway to address this shortfall.

The Mayor: As of end of May 2019, there were 4,651 Detective Constables in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), with 232 vacancies against the current establishment model.
The MPS is re-designing the Specialist Crime Command, as part of the significant transformation on-going within the service. This is likely to result in changes to both detective and uniformed posts. As such, the MPS will in due course, need to re-profile it’s establishment model as the re-design is completed.
The MPS operates a Detective Resilience Group (DRG) to ensure vacancies are filled as quickly as possible. The vacancy rate has significantly improved over the last 12 months and is now less than 5 per cent.

Homicide and Drugs

Peter Whittle: To ask the Mayor how many homicides in the Metropolitan Police District over the last five years were directly or indirectly linked to the drugs trade?

The Mayor: The demand for drugs, and the chains that supply that, are one of a number of causes of violent crime. Drugs can be related to violence in three ways – psychopharmacologically, economic compulsion, and systemically. It is the latter, systemic violence between drug dealing gangs, which constitutes the vast majority of drug-related violence, and it is this that the Met’s Violent Crime Taskforce is tackling through its Drug Related Violence strategy. However, this link is indirect, and so difficult to define and confidently estimate. An investigation will not necessarily identify whether the use of, or supply of drugs, is a causation factor in any homicide, though it will of course endeavour to identify the motive.
The MPS Drug Strategy places a priority on tackling drugs supply that is believed to be a generator of serious violence. This includes intensive activity targeting London based and County Lines networks.

Sexual harassment of police officers

Unmesh Desai: In answer to my question 2018/5303 regarding how many female Metropolitan Police Service officers reported being sexually harassed by colleagues, you advised that “due to the way that these allegations are currently collated there is no reasonable way that this level of information can be extracted practicably”.
A Unison Survey in 2018 revealed one in five police officers had received a sexually explicit email or text from a colleague.
Do you feel that being able to identify how many reported cases of sexual harassment by a colleague were recorded each year would help with being able to assess whether the Met has improved in this area? If so, do you think the Met should improve its internal reporting and recording system to be able to do so?

The Mayor: Sexual harassment in the workplace is appalling and will not be tolerated.
The MPS is confident that since January 2019 the recording of sexual harassment allegations has improved.
The MPS updated the Centurion case management system in summer 2018 and at that time introduced a flag to be attached to any sexual harassment allegation. This enables effective monitoring of volume and trends. Further work to improve data standards is ongoing.
This level of detail about sexual harassment has never been recorded historically. Assessments will be made to agree the correct level of recorded information, to ensure effective reporting maintaining confidentiality and safeguarding of victims and whistle-blowers.
The MPS actively promotes the “Knowing The Line” campaign where reporters of wrong doing are encouraged to contact the DPS Intelligence Bureau via The Right Line or directly by email.
Only 2.1 per centof police staff across the UK responded to the Unison survey in 2018 and police officers were not included.

Financial impact for the Met of the Emergency Services Network delay

Unmesh Desai: The Home Office has extended its deadline for the completion of the Emergency Services Network by a year to December 2024 and agreed to pay Motorola an extra £82m extra to adopt its off-the-shelf ‘push to talk’ product (https://www.policeprofessional.com/news/emergency-services-network-completion-date-pushed-back-to-2024-as-contract-cost-soars/). What financial implications will this further delay have for the Met?

The Mayor: The cost that the Met is expected to pay for the ESN Service overall is not anticipated to increase as a direct result of the extended period to 2024. Re-profiling of resources and exploitation of associated C&C technology should enable the financial impact to remain within existing budgets.

R V Allen impact on caseloads

Unmesh Desai: In 2018, the MPS and CPS jointly reviewed 600 RASSO (Rape and Serious Sexual Offences) cases. I understand that the MPS drafted in 120 officers to assist in this process and mitigate against the risk of creating a backlog in rape cases (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42873618). Nonetheless, did these reviews have any impact on creating a backlog of rape and sexual offences cases?

The Mayor: The Met have confirmed that during the period in which the cases were reviewed, there was an initial backlog. This backlog was related to cases that were in the investigation stage and those being prepared for the CPS.
Additional officers were drafted in to assist with the disclosure matter to ensure that ongoing cases continued to progress.
There is no current backlog due to the ruling in the R v Allen case.

MOPAC’s 2019/20 property disposal plan

Florence Eshalomi: When will MOPAC’s 2019/20 property disposal plan be published?

The Mayor: The MOPAC 2019/20 property disposal plan will be published in due course following MPS and MOPAC governance. Any decision will be published on the MOPAC website.

Slavery and Kidnap Unit

Steve O'Connell: The Slavery and Kidnap Unit has been changed to a broader unit on exploitation, the Vulnerability Team. Will the Mayor ensure that the work around slavery in this unit continues to receive the same level of funding?

The Mayor: The Specialist Crime Vulnerability Unit, launched on 3rd June this year, bringing together modern slavery, child sexual exploitation and complex sexual case teams. This is in recognition of the similarities in offending and victim care approach. It provides the Met and London with a far more joined-up and effective approach to tackling organised exploitation. It benefits from increased officer numbers with a total of 142 posts dedicated to targeting these crime types. All officers will investigate modern slavery. This provides a significant uplift in specialist resource targeting this crime type.
The Vulnerability Unit also benefits from a newly formed Assessment and Partnership Team (VAPT) with an additional 47 officer posts. The VAPT will continue to support, increase and build on the many modern slavery-related collaborations the Met partners. It will also ensure emerging modern slavery crimes, such as criminal exploitation, are approached sensitively without criminalising London’s most vulnerable.

Prevention of lead theft from church roofs

Unmesh Desai: How are MOPAC and the Metropolitan Police Service working to prevent the theft of lead from church roofs?

The Mayor: In the last 12 months there have been 427 crimes where the location is recorded as a place of worship. Of these 377 were classed as theft, 18 of which relate to theft of metal. There were 14 recorded burglary offences over the same period, with none referring to the theft of metal. Since 2013 it has been illegal for scrap metal dealers to pay for metal using cash, which restricts cash transactions linked to crime. The MPS enforces this through its day to day activities as well as working with partners such as the British Transport Police on days of action. The MPS also work with the NCA, who have included metal theft as part of their 2019 strategic assessment. The MPS has a network of hate crime coordinators across all BCUs, as well as dedicated ward officers, to support places of worship. MPS Design Out crime Officers (DOCOs) are currently doing security surveys, for any place of worship that requests one, under the Home Office scheme. Where lead is present on the building, bespoke advice can be provided by MPS DOCOs.

GPS tracking pilot (2)

Sian Berry: With reference to your pilot programme announced on 31 May 2019 that will tag knife crime, robbery and aggravated burglary offenders with GPS tracking devices on release from prison, what are the metrics of success for this pilot?

The Mayor: The pilot is testing the effectiveness and impact of using GPS monitoring tags with prisoners being released from prison following a knife crime conviction. The aims of the pilot are to reduce the risk of violence and harm to the public posed by these cases, to strengthen the enforcement of licence conditions, to increase deterrence and to enhance crime detection.
The evaluation will measure success against these aims by tracking the progress and enforcement outcomes of tagged cases, getting feedback from practitioners and offenders and, where possible impact on reoffending. The evaluation will also consider the effect of GPS monitoring and appropriate data sharing on crime detection.

GPS tracking pilot (3)

Sian Berry: With reference to your pilot programme announced on 31 May 2019 that will tag knife crime, robbery and aggravated burglary offenders with GPS tracking devices on release from prison, to date, how many people have been fitted with GPS tracking devices? Could you break this data down by borough and the type of crime?

The Mayor: The pilot announced in May this year is testing the use of GPS tags with knife crime offenders being released from prison on licence. The pilot is still being rolled out across boroughs and so far 16 cases have had GPS tagging conditions added to their licences.
By borough this is: Southwark (10), Lambeth (4), Lewisham (1), Croydon (1).
By offence type this is: Possession of bladed article/offensive weapon (11), Robbery (2), Manslaughter (1), Affray (1), Criminal and malicious damage (1).

Community Assessors

Peter Whittle: To ask the Mayor how many Community Assessors are currently employed by the Metropolitan Police and to explain in detail what their role is.

The Mayor: There are currently 178 Community Assessors employed by the Metropolitan Police. Community Assessors are used in initial police recruitment and some police officer promotion assessment centres. They work alongside Assessors from the MPS and other assessment centre professionals. Their role is to make objective assessments of the performance and competence of candidates during their assessment day. This will involve assessment of candidates through a variety of activities, involving interviewing, written, interactive and video-based exercises.